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The idyllic setting of The Hideaway Inn where Vince and Tack get a second chance at love is a real place. I first came to know New Hope, Pennsylvania as a young kid performing in a summer stock production of “The Wizard of Oz” at The Bucks County Playhouse. Between performances I poked around the quaint shops and strolled along the canal path. I knew I was in a special place but I was too young to immediately understand why I felt so comfortable.

For decades queer people and allies have found a “hideaway” in this small town and its environs halfway between Philadelphia and New York. Oscar Hammerstein wrote some of the world’s most beloved musicals in Bucks County and Dorothy Parker took a break from The Algonquin Roundtable at her country home with sweeping views of the Delaware. In the 60s and 70s, the mainstream press coverage of “Mother Cavallucci’s” gay weddings signaled to the world that New Hope was a place of inclusivity.

I hope after reading the first book in the Season of New Hope series you’ll think about planning a trip to Bucks County. Here are five things I love about this wonderful town.

Small Town Pride. Truth. I’ve danced shirtless on more than my share of big city Pride floats but small town Pride events have a charm and localness that makes the celebration more intimate. New Hope Celebrates organizes Pride each year with not only a parade but plenty of downhome fun.

Bucks County Playhouse. This storied theater was once a mill and now it’s the center of town. In addition to great shows and historic memorabilia on display there’s also a bar and café with gorgeous views.

The Ferry Market. International food and local specialties are side-by-side in this brand new food hall. Lots of tasty treats and there is plenty of seating indoors and out.

The Aaron Burr House. This adorable yellow inn is the perfect overnight spot for history buffs and foodies. The innkeeper is a classically trained cook and delightful hostess.

Seasons. Each season brings a new and distinct beauty to the area. Summers are warm and the river is center stage, fall is a stunning tapestry of changing leaves, winter is perfect by the fireplace and spring brings flowers and new beginnings.

High school wasn’t the right time or place for their relationship to grow, but now, fifteen years later, a chance encounter changes both of their lives forever.

No one in the charming river town of New Hope, Pennsylvania, needs to know that Vince Amato plans on flipping The Hideaway Inn to the highest bidder and returning to his luxury lifestyle in New York City. He needs to make his last remaining investment turn a profit…even if that means temporarily relocating to the quirky small town where he endured growing up. He’s spent years reinventing himself and won’t let his past dictate his future.

But on his way to New Hope, Vince gets stuck in the middle of nowhere and his past might be the only thing that can get him to his future. Specifically Tack O’Leary, the gorgeous, easygoing farm boy who broke his heart and who picks Vince up in his dilapidated truck.

Tack comes to the rescue not only with a ride but also by signing on to be the chef at The Hideaway for the summer. As Vince and Tack open their hearts to each other again, Vince learns that being true to himself doesn’t mean shutting down a second chance with Tack—it means starting over and letting love in.

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

Philip William Stover splits his time between Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and New York City. He has an MFA in writing and is a clinical professor at New York University where he is the former chair of the writing curriculum. As a freelance journalist, his essays and reviews have appeared in

The Forward, The Tony Awards, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and other national publications.

Philip grew up tearing the covers off the romance novels he devoured so he wouldn’t get teased at school. Now he enjoys traveling the world with his husband of over twenty years and sitting in front of the woodstove with their half-Bassett, half-Sharpei rescue pup and he would never consider defacing any of the books he loves.

He is thrilled to be returning to romance and loves to write cozy, warm-hearted stories served by hairy forearms with a side of fries. He can be found on social media as Philip William Stover.

The Economics of Self-Publishing a Book

a guest post by Louise Herman

Hello everyone, and I hope you are enjoying the week.

I have decided to take a week’s respite from writing the third book in my YA urban fantasy series, Split Blood, to catch up with author interview and guest post requests. I am looking forward to discussing my thoughts and opinions on the economics of self-publishing a bookas well as giving some advice on what aspects of self-publishing is essential to a budget and what I have experienced as a waste of time and money.

Why did I decide to Self-Publish my books?

I would love to say it was a choice, however, after I sent a number of emails to literary agents and received no replies, I decided to close my eyes and jump straight into the self-publishing ocean.

It was nerve-racking at first because I had no idea about self-publishing but after a lot of research and learning from my mistakes along the way, I am enjoying the self-publishing journey.

What are the common misconceptions of self-publishing?

I think the biggest misconception about self-publishing is anyone can publish a successful book in today’s technological world.

For example, you have a great idea for a story, you get so engrossed in writing it, you take the leap and self-publish it on the internet and then you sit back and wait for the big bucks to start rolling in, along with literary agents fighting to represent you, right?

Not quite!

The reality is only a handful of self-published authors break even (the total cost of publishing against the profits of the sales, after each website has taken its percentage) and if you do not have a regular presence on social media sites then you could find it difficult to be seen and network with influential people who can help potential readers find your books.

These people are bloggers and reviewers.

I have built up a good relationship with many bloggers and have added them to my list of ‘Go to People’ when I need to do author interviews (to discuss my past, present and future. This is not all about promoting my work. It is for potential readers to get to know the person behind the books), Guest Posts (topics related to writing that are important to me) and Spotlights (a full discussion about myself, my work and upcoming projects).

It’s also fun to communicate with these bloggers because it is a two way process. They advertise an author on their blog and social media sites, therefore, as an author, I also do the same (I will post the promotional item on my blog, which advertises their blog to my followers, and on my social media sites).

However, not all bloggers work the same way.

Some specialise purely in reviews but some are open to other forms of promotion.

I have found that trying to get reviews can be quite hard because many are overwhelmed with requests and often close their review request channels until they can catch up with the backlog.

While others will state they do not accept requests from self-published authors, with some going as far as to state that they have a problem with the quality of the self-published books they have previously read.

I used to find this slightly insulting but when you take into consideration that they are doing these reviews for free, they should be allowed to have an opinion on what types of books they want to review.

NOTE: Reviews are usually free and reviewers usually have full or part time jobs but review in their spare time. This means try to give at least three months’ notice to your reviewer. If you are asked to pay for a review, try somewhere else! Not only is it slightly frowned upon in the self-publishing industry but it’s just an unnecessary, extra cost to your ever rising budget!

What are the advantages of self-publishing?

I like that I have the opportunity to learn about online publishing first hand and that I have the chance to communicate with a range of people with similar interests.

I learn something new every week to help enhance my writing and advertising skills and I really enjoy having full control over every aspect of publishing my books.

What are the challenges of self-publishing?

Although I enjoy having full control over publishing my books, I do sometimes think that it would be nice to have a literary agent to help take on some of the advertising tasks because having full time job, restricts the time I can dedicate to writing and sometimes the advertising infringes on the writing time.

I have also found that it takes a lot of work and effort to gain a strong following. I write Young Adult Urban Fantasy novels, which is a popular genre and I have found that it is extremely difficult to get new followers interested in looking at my new pieces of work if there are no reviews to give them an inclination of how the book has been received by other readers.

There will be potential readers and followers who will read the synopsis and give the books a try but there are some who use reviews to help them decide whether or not it is the kind of story they would enjoy reading.

It is the latter type of follower that bad reviews can affect your potential sales.

Some reviews that are lower than five stars can be disheartening to an author but if they offer constructive criticism (e.g. “there was too much fighting in it”) then it could be a case of what one person dislikes about the storyline, another reader maybe looking for this type of drama.

However, if they give you one star because they “just couldn’t read it because you should never write again”, it offers nothing to a potential reader about the story and many would not take this type of review seriously.

And lastly, I have given out copies of my eBooks for a review in the past, only to be disappointed to never receive one.

It is disheartening but all these things are part of the learning process and have helped me focus on what works and avoid what wastes time and money.

What are the costs to publish your own book?

Book cover artist – This is difficult because it depends on the type of cover you want? You can get book cover images from a variety of stock photography sites and prices vary on each site. For a basic book cover with an image that does not need to be edited and text, I would estimate between £50 (~$70) and £150 (~$212).

Proof-reader or Copy Editor – Between £600 (~$850) and £1,000 (~$1418) (depending on word count, how many hours it takes them to work on the book and how much work the book needs).

eBook Conversation Costs – If you cannot convert your eBooks yourselves then it might be worth getting a professional to do this for you. I convert my books myself but I have received quotes in the past for this type of work and the prices were between £50 (~$70) and £150 (~$212).

Distribution costs – (for reviewers who only accept hard copies): I have heard that some websites do give a small discount to authors who buy their own books but I am yet to find these sites. Therefore you would be paying the same price as a customer to purchase your paperback books to send to reviewers. Many authors buy in bulk for this purpose and can spend between £599 (~$849) and £1099 (~$1558) for an order of 100 books.

URL for website – Having your own website is essential for an author and you can buy domain names from nearly anywhere on the internet at the moment.

I have a website through Fat Cow and bought my URL through them as soon as I set it up.

It cost me approximately £8.99 (~$12.75) to buy the domain name + £60 (~$85) for the year (with added extras).

However, different extensions can either increase or decrease the cost (e.g. com, co.uk, org. Etc.)

Option 1: Keep 70% of the royalties. However this option is only available to books sold in a specific territory of countries set out by Amazon Kindle. Any books sold outside of these regions will give you a 35% royalty.

Option 2: Keep 35% of the royalties. This is the standard royalty rate.

Lulu prides itself on working on a 90/10 royalty split, therefore if you have published your book after 6th September 2011 and it is priced at $1.24 or higher then you can qualify for a 90% royalty revenue.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to self-publish their first book?

There might be something I have missed out because every week I am learning something new about the self-publishing world but so far I have eight tips that would help a new author get started:

Test it out on free sites like Wattpad first to see if there is an audience for it and find Beta readers in these groups to help highlight elements that may need extra attention (e.g. such as continuity issues, plot holes, creating believable characters or scenes, etc.)

Build up a following and make amendments based on the feedback

Get a professional book cover artist (unless you are good with graphics software or you are a good artist)

Get your work proofread or copy edited

Publish on the main publishing sites

Build up a group of regular reviewers

Be active on social media (not just to talk about the book but share your interests and get involved in group discussions)

Remember success doesn’t happen overnight (it could take years), so continue with your passion and never give up!

About the author

Louise Herman is a North London Fantasy author obsessed with pear drops sweets and 80s Fantasy films.

In between reading James Herbert novels and drinking too much coffee, she writes Young Adult Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance novels.

Louise Herman has currently written five YA Fantasy books to date (December 2015); The Orcus Games Prequel Trilogy and The Split Blood series, which take the reader on a journey of magic, mystery, obsession and forbidden love with seductively dark consequences.

The Writer’s Ego

by Louise Caiola

In a perfect world, the writer would have no ego. We would be filled with an endless supply of interesting plot lines and legendary characters yet our hearts and minds would operate independently. Without the need for our work to be liked, understood, revered or extolled virtuously.

Newsflash – this is NOT a perfect world.

And so it goes that we writers set about our creative tasks with the greatest of care, like those tightrope walkers, without a net. We await word from the combined masses that we pretend will not personally resonate. We understand subjectivity. It’s the nature of all art.

A sour review will sometimes set us off track. Temporarily. We brush it aside. The joy of The Opinion. Yet our egos are not so readily placated. Truth be told (and you didn’t hear it from me) writers are really just humans with the very same delicate ego-ecosystem that most humans possess.

We cocoon ourselves in the illusion of safety that comes from the unavoidable scrutiny of the public eyes. More or less the IT IS WHAT IT IS demeanor of the literary world. The equivalent of an industry shrug. As though the nature of the business makes the tough stuff easier somehow.

Newsflash – It doesn’t.

This isn’t a PSA to all readers. Not a commercial suggesting that you Hug your Favorite Author Today.

This is merely a reminder. Writers are people too. When you stomp on us, we scuff. We fold. Stomp easier, if you will. Or mindfully. Or not at all.

Read with kindness. Appreciate the efforts behind the results. Play nice. An ego somewhere will thank you for it.

The last thing eighteen-year-old Ann Leigh remembers is running from her boyfriend in a thick Nebraska cornfield. This morning she’s staring down a cool Italian sunrise, an entire continent from the life she once knew. The events of the eighteen months in between have inexplicably gone missing from her memory.

All at once she’s living with Tommy, an attractive, young foreigner asking for her continued love. Though he’s vaguely familiar, she recalls a boy named Shane in America who she reluctantly agreed to marry. Juggling a new world while her old one is still M.I.A is difficult enough without the terrifying movie scenes spinning a dizzy loop in her mind: glimpses of a devastating house fire, a romance gone wrong, an unplanned pregnancy, and a fractured family – each claiming to be part of who she once was – a girl and a past somehow discarded.

Ann Leigh must collect the pieces of herself to become whole again, but she doesn’t know who to trust especially when Tommy’s lies become too obvious to ignore. And above all, her heart aches to discover what became of the child she may or may not have given birth to.

The Making of Nebraska Brown tells the story of one girl’s coming apart from the inside and the great lengths she’ll go to reclaim herself and find her way home.

Earlier in the week I featured Persephone, book one of the Daughters of Zeus series, by Kaitlin Bevis. As mentioned in that post, Kaitlin’s back with a guest post. She’s here to discuss the Persephone myth and how it plays into her book.

Persephone Myth:

In the original Persephone myth, Kore, the goddess of Spring, was a beautiful goddess and would have had many suiters had her mother, Demeter, goddess of agriculture, not kept her hidden away from the other gods. One day Kore went to a meadow to pick narcissus flowers, lilacs, poppies, or some other flower depending on the source with some nymphs when Hades, God of the Underworld spotted her and decided he wanted her for his wife. He burst through the earth (in some versions, Gaia, goddess of Earth assists him) in his creepy black chariot of death, and dragged Kore into the Underworld. After her rape/marriage, Kore became known as Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld.

Demeter, goddess of Agriculture and Persephone’s mother, searched frantically for her daughter, neglecting her duties as a goddess and plunging the earth into famine. Helios, god of the sun, or in some versions Persephone’s nymph friends, tell Demeter what happened and Demeter begged Zeus to rescue their daughter.

At first Zeus told Demeter she should be pleased to have such a high ranking son-in-law, but eventually he relented since too many people were starving to worship him properly, and sent Hermes to liberate Persephone so long as she had not consumed food or drink in he Underworld.

Meanwhile, Persephone was tricked into eating 3-7(depending on the version) pomegranate seeds by the god Ascalapus, Hades’ gardener. Ascalapus got turned into a screech owl in retribution for his crime, and Persephone was forced to return to the Underworld for a month every year for each seed she ate. While she is home with her mother, plants grow, but during her time in the Underworld every year they die. This myth is considered an explanation for winter.

Why did her name change?

Changing a gods name to reflect a change in their divine role was not uncommon. In Persephone’s case she doesn’t even get a name until she’s important. Kore translated to girl, or maiden.

Persephone has a variety of other names and titles within her cult the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Why a pomegranate?

The pomegranate is known as the fruit of the dead as well as a symbol for fertility, and thanks to the little crown on the top of a pomegranate is a symbol of royalty. So it’s easy to see why it was chosen as symbol in the Persephone myth. You’ve got royalty for the new Queen of Spring/fertility of the dead. When you cut it open is naturally divided into three to six sections depending on the fruit. It is full of tiny little seeds covered in a blood red juice.

While the Persephone myth is the most well known example of using a Pomegranate for symbolism, way back when, this weird little fruit found its way into a variety of stories across cultures.

Why does it matter what flower Persephone was picking?

The flower chosen in the myth kind of sets the tone for the whole story. The narcissus flower for instance is commonly seen as a phallic symbol, and a symbol of unrequited love, and as a portent for death, so you’ve got some foreshadowing, and loss of innocence going there. Other flowers symbolize different things that the story teller may be trying to get across.

What did I change?

I tried to stay true to the spirit of the original myth in my version of the story. Several of the key elements remained, but framed differently. My version is set in modern day. Persephone believes she’s a normal, somewhat sheltered, girl. She discovers she’s a goddess after catching the attention of a sadistic deity named Boreas, the God of Winter (winter winds, technically). Hades rescues her by taking her to the Underworld.

The idea that Hades may not have been the bad guy has been toyed with in popular culture throughout my entire life (Beauty and the Beast anyone?) so it’s logical, and certainly not original, to consider that Hades may have just been misunderstood. Choosing Boreas as the antagonist made sense because there is a very similar story in Greek mythology involving Boreas abducting a Greek princess. In my mind, it fit really well. Boreas is a repeat offender, AND he’s strongest during the winter. It made complete sense for Persephone to have to hide during those months.

I made other changes as well, the Underworld is a pretty nice place, and Persephone is free to come and go as she pleases. Orpheus is a rock star. Small things to add layers to a world where many of the myths we know so well haven’t happened yet.

Why rewrite the Persephone myth?

That myth has never really vanished or fallen out of fashion. It resonates with us for some reason. If you studied any mythology at all in school, you learned the Persephone myth. I think part of it is, if you take the myth at face value, it’s unspeakable. We want to fix this poor girl’s fate. Another draw is that the Persephone myth seems incomplete. In other myths you get a bit of characterization for the key players. Zeus’s personality and wants and needs come across crystal clear in every single myth he’s a part of. But Hades and Persephone both are ambiguous in this myth. We learn a lot about Demeter, and her devotion as a mother, but not so much about Persephone. I wanted to know what happened down there. So I wrote my own version.

About the Author:

Kaitlin Bevis spent her childhood curled up with a book, and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with her, she rewrote it. She’s always wanted to be a writer, and spent high school and college learning everything she could so that one day she could achieve that goal. She graduated college with my BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and is pursuing her masters at the University of Georgia.

Her young adult series “Daughters of Zeus” is available wherever ebooks are sold. She also writes for truuconfessions.com and Athens Parent Magazine.

I just wanted to start by thanking Rob for letting me take up space on his blog. He’s been a big help with my debut release, Your Favorite Girl (currently on sale for .99c), and I am forever in his debt for that. It’s been a great start, and I’m completely floored by how welcoming bloggers, readers, and my fellow authors have been.

If you don’t know me, I’m a twenty-eight-year-old waitress who shares the same dream as every other writer out there: I want to be a full-time writer. I want to be famous. I want to one day see my characters playing out my stories on the big screen.

The problem is I’m too scared to share my writing with people I know in the real world. To counter this personal dilemma, I started a blog and Twitter account a year ago and began connecting with people online, and so far my late-night ramblings have garnered me a lot of friendships. A lot of these kind people have even blown their money on my book! It’s quite humbling.

It wasn’t until I came up with the idea for Your Favorite Girl that I fully committed to entering the publishing world as an erotica author. I’d written an erotic short story here and there, but most of my life I’ve been writing across the board, multiple genres, never quite knowing where I felt most comfortable.

As it turns out, I’m most comfortable naked, and that translates nicely to the page. Lol.

Your Favorite Girl opens with twenty-two-year-old housewife Melissa Reed arriving for an appointment at a company called Your Favorite Girl, Incorporated.

After discovering her millionaire husband’s infidelity, Melissa started snooping through his things trying to find evidence of other duplicity and betrayal. She stumbled across the address and phone number for YFG, Inc., which she assumed was an escort service

When she arrives, though, she finds something else entirely. YFG, Inc. engineers what they’ve coined Favorite Girls, eighteen-year-old virgins who exist in a state of pure sexual desire, so beautiful and so erotic that no man or woman can resist them.

Not even Melissa. She signs a contract to purchase the first Favorite Girl she’s shown in the Showcase Hall, and when her Favorite Girl is delivered to her home, everything goes to hell.

Now she finds herself strapped to a table back at YFG, Inc., and she doesn’t know what she’ll have to do to survive.

I don’t want to explain the plot any further. I’ll wind up telling you the whole story, and that’s bad strategy when you’re trying to sell books. Lol. Let’s just say this isn’t your average erotic romance novel. It has a love story, yes, but it’s a slow-building one. Love that blossoms out of extraordinary circumstances is always more poignant than love that blossoms out of the mundane. You won’t see me peddling high school drama and calling it romance. I’m going to take you places you’ve never been before. Uncomfortable places. Scary places. Explicit places. Haunting places. Beautiful places. Places where your imagination is stimulated as much as your sexual desire.

I don’t expect you to rush to Amazon and drop your money on an author with whom you’re not familiar. Come to my blog at www.stephsweeney.com, if you’re skeptical, and read my new posts for a day or two. You can get to know me there, get a feel for my writing prowess. Or you can go to Smashwords and download a free sample in any format.

Your Favorite Girl is the first in a three-book series. His Favorite Girl and Everyone’s Favorite Girl will both be released this year, so if you take a chance on Book One, you won’t have to wait long for the rest. I can’t promise you’ll love it or even enjoy it, but what I can promise you is something unique, something unlike what’s out there.

The start to the most explosive erotica series you’ve ever encountered. Satisfaction guaranteed. 😉

Today on the blog, I have a post from fellow poet Patricia Neely-Dorsey. She has a guest post for all of you to read, as well as a poem to share later on in this post, as part of her blog tour taking place right now. I hope that you enjoy the post and check out the rest of the tour (click the banner above for more info). Also, don’t forget to check out both of her books. Links can be found below.

I have had a love for poetry from a very young age, but the writing came much later in life. I wrote my very first poem on February 14, 2007 at the age of 43! I guess you would say that I was a very late bloomer in that area! I woke up on Valentine’s Day 2007 with this poem just swirling around in my head. I got up and scribbled it down. After that, the poems just started to flow and flow.

Mississippi has such a rich literary history! It is one that I am especially proud of! When I do speaking engagements, I often give quotes from William Faulkner and Eudora Welty. I have definitely been influenced by the distinct elements of southern literature in my writing. So much of southern writing, including my own, have the common themes of remembrances of the past, ties to the land, a strong sense of place, and the importance of family and community. The style and content of my writings have, at various times, been compared to some absolutely phenomenal southern writers such as Margaret Walker, Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright. I am truly humbled and beyond thrilled to even be mentioned in the same breath as any of these writing legends.

I have found that my poems have found a special niche with Southerners. But, “my little books of southern poems” don’t just appeal to Southerners. I have found them to have widespread appeal. I have received e-mails complimenting the books from readers from all parts of the country. I have even had many readers outside of the U.S who have expressed how much they have enjoyed, related to and learned from them. I feel such gratification in playing any role in opening minds to the positive aspects of my state and region.

And on the third day God sai….oh, wait this is a blog tour. We’re here to have fun!!! I think thing have been going well so far and I’d like to give an early thank you to everyone who has stuck with me already and will keep sticking around until this thing’s done. Thank you.

I’m happy to bring you all two great posts today. One is an interview with Amber Jerome~Norrgard. She’s a very good friend, future writing partner of mine, and has a bright writing future ahead of her (also a fellow poet). I’ve reviewed a good chunk of her work, so if you’d like to search her name on my blog you’ll be able to find some of her books here.

Secondly, another guest post! This one’s on yet another fellow poet’s blog, Kayleigh’s Spot. Kayleigh Grian has a post I wrote entitled, “The Music of Poetry.” Stop on over there today to find out my view on how poetry isn’t solely about reading, but it’s about the listening and orating of verse. There’s a special surprise at the and of that one, as well.

As always, remember that if you comment on any of these posts you get entered to win 1 of 5 ebooks of From Where I Stand that I’m giving away at the end of tour. Comment on more posts for more entries!!!